FIG. 1 show architecture of a conventional electronic gaming machine. A casino management system 1, as the hub for operating a casino, manages and monitors operations of all electronic gaming machines 2 in the casino, and records accounting information of deposit and withdrawal as well as log information of members. In addition to preventing fraudulent practice of related personnel, the casino management system 1 also serves as a critical medium for audit, control and taxation of authorities. Each electronic gaming machine 2 includes a game interface card 3, a game host 4, a bill machine 5 and a ticket machine 6.
In general, a casino management system provider has its own internal protocol for a casino management system used internally, and contents of such internal communication protocol are not made public. To allow connections of electronic gaming machines of different brands and manufactures with the casino management system 1, each electronic gaming machine 2 is installed with the game interface 3, which is manufactured by the casino management system provider and capable of data exchange with the casino management system 1. The main function of the game interface card 3 is to perform conversion between the internal casino management system protocol and the public communication protocol in order to transmit data. A public protocol, such as Slot Accounting System (SAS), SuperSAS, Game to System (G2S), QCOM and X-series protocols, is usually adopted among the game host 4, the bill machine 5, the ticket machine 6 and the game interface card 3. The SAS protocol is one of the most commonly applied communication protocols. Further, the Casino Management System (CMS) protocol is usually used between the game interface card 3 and the casino management system 1. The function of the game interface card 3 is to convert the data of the electronic gaming machine 2 to be transmitted from the public communication protocol to the internal casino management system protocol, so as to ensure that the data is correctly transmitted to the casino management system 1.
Before and after a player operates the electronic gaming machine 2, bill deposit and ticket withdrawal operations using the bill machine 5 and the ticket machine 6 need to be performed. The bill machine 5 allows the user to deposit cash or an electronic gift card into the electronic gaming machine 2 to convert the cash or electronic gift card into points or a cash amount. The ticket machine 6 allows the user to print the points or cash amount in the electronic gaming machine 2 into an electronic ticket that can then be used for gift exchange or converted to cash.
The above conventional electronic gaming machine 2 can only be operated by one single person, and each electronic gaming machine 2 can only be used by one single person at the same time, hence offering limited commercial effects. Due to a limited venue area of a casino, or a limited number of machines as regulated by authorities, only a limited number of machines can be accommodated. Thus, there is a need for a solution for casino entrepreneurs to allow more players to play at the same time using the limited number of machines without causing crowdedness. To solve the issue of a crowded venue, for example, the China Patent Publication Nos. CN104813358A and CN105188865A, related applications of the same applicant, primarily disclose technologies that allow a player to resume a game of an electronic gaming machine (EGM) on a mobile device and to continue playing the game on the mobile device.
The China Patent Publication No. CN104813358A, discloses technical features of transferring game experiences, and displaying options, related dialogues and accounting data, in paragraph [0047]: the player may resume the game 120 by using the mobile device 110 after the player leaves the proximity of the EGM 130 (i.e., continuing the game dialogue in a cross-platform manner). In some implementation solutions, the game 120 may be transferred from the mobile device 110 back to the EMG 130. The China Patent Publication No. CN105188865A primarily discloses technical features of transferring an image of a gaming machine to a mobile device of a player.
The technical features of the above disclosures focus on the connection and data transmission between the mobile device and the gaming machine to prevent errors during data transfer, hence satisfying the requirement of resuming the game as the player changes the game venue. However, directly relocating the entire game to the mobile device not only faces certain issues of errors in data transmission and user accounts, but may easily generate loopholes and be exposed to risks of being hacked. Thus, the above disclosures have questionable system safety and may not be extensively adopted.